Course Expectations

Every semester, I get so excited about my classes during the craziness of the first week.  I love getting syllabi, buying books, and getting organized with new school supplies (I know, slightly dorky).  I realized though, that usually my perception of a class during the first few days turns out to be pretty different than how the rest of the course ends up (do professors do this on purpose?).  So I thought I would take a minute to write down some thoughts about my classes so I can look back at the end of the semester and see how right I was.

• PR Campaigns - I'm really excited about this one.  It's our capstone class for a Public Relations degree, applying everything we've learned so far to a real campaign.  Our class is working with entities concerned with combating poverty in the Athens-Clarke County area.  I've also volunteered to be one of the class leaders (for Honors credit) so I feel like it will be a great experience.
• Journalism & Mass Communication Law - Okay, who really gets excited about this class?  It's definitely important information, but I know it's going to be really hard work and a lot of reading.
• Rhetoric & Pop Culture - I wanted to take a fun class for my last arts & science credit, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'll get with this one.  The professor seems really cool and the subject matter is really interesting.
• Strategic Management - Another capstone class, this one is the last one I need for my Management degree in the Terry College of Business.  I'm expecting a lot of theory but it should be helpful information that I can apply to any job I have in the future, management-related or otherwise.
• Entrepreneurship - I've been waiting for years to take this class! Our professor told us we could miss class if it's a nice day outside but not if we have a job interview - he wants to encourage us to start our own business rather than "work for the man".  Although I'll probably be "working for the man" in about 5 months, it's always been a dream of mine to eventually start and run my own business (hence the Business degree).  We get to come up with a business plan for our company, so it should again be a great hands-on learning experience.

So I guess I'll be looking back on this post to see how accurate I was about which classes I loved/hated, but at this point I'm pretty optimistic about all five...

If You Don't Have Anything Significant to Say, Don't Say Anything at All

The last few days have been pretty hectic... I've been getting unpacked from Winter Break, going to class, buying books and school supplies, studying (keeping up on my reading was a New Year's Resolution I forgot), and working.  I've been so wrapped up in my busy schedule that I've almost forgotten to post on here.  The truth is though, I haven't felt like I had anything important to say.  Which brings me to an important point about blogging...

If you don't have anything significant to say, don't say anything at all.  

Sure, it's important to update regularly especially if you're working to develop a following for your blog, but if you don't have timely, interesting information to present then what is the point in writing?  It's the same idea as news releases - if you don't have timely, interesting information then nobody is going to cover your story.  

I'm definitely excited about the semester though, and plan to post regularly about what is going on in my classes.  I have a full load of 15 hours - Public Relations Campaigns, Journalism & Mass Communication Law, Rhetoric & Pop Culture, Strategic Management, and Entrepreneurship.  I'm also planning to either intern or work for UGA's Creative Consultants (a student run PR firm), and am working two jobs - so it's going to be a busy last semester! 

New Years' Resolutions?

So I'm about 6 days late on all this, but I've been thinking about "New Years Resolutions".  Well, not so much resolutions, because we all know nobody keeps them.  Here's my list of things I want to happen in 2009...

• Find a way to balance school, 2 jobs, an internship and a social life.  I kind of lacked on the last part last semester, so it's a good thing my jobs are my social life. 
• Put enough money in my savings account before I graduate to at least cover my first month's rent in NYC.
• Become more knowledgeable about the Internet & social media.
• Work on my blog's exposure and getting more readers.
• Graduate. 
• Find an apartment I like/can afford in NYC.  The first requirement should be easy, we'll see about the second one... 
• Make a true effort to keep in touch with friends after graduation/moving.
• Start an entry-level job or internship (ideally shortly after graduation).
• Finish cleaning out my room at my parents' house.  And accept that I really now have to start calling it "my parents' house" instead of "my house".
• Clean out/re-paint my townhouse in Athens.
• Learn to flare. Okay, now I'm starting to ramble so I'm going to stop the list there.

I think that should keep me busy...

Sarasota: We Live Where You Vacation

I don't know if it's because of the start of the new year, the fact that I'm about to start my final semester of college, or that my mom "suggested" cleaning everything out of my closet while I'm home (read: "told me that I no longer live here, so I should get my stuff out"), but I've been really nostalgic lately.  Today, while I was laying on the beach reading and relaxing, I realized how lucky I was to grow up in beautiful Sarasota.  Now, as I get ready to move even farther away from home, I keep getting more attached to and appreciative of the little beach bubble that I was born and raised in.  

In high school I hated Sarasota.  I don't know what more I wanted... we had good malls, movie theaters, beautiful beaches, and nightlife (not that I was involved with that in high school).  It just goes to show you how you take anything for granted if you're used to it.  After 18 years of living here, I was so ready to get out and move to another state to try something new.  Now when I come home on vacation, I realize what an amazing city it is (especially when I get to go to the beach in January).  Living a plane ride away instead of a car ride away will probably mean I get to come home less.  Of course, I'll come home to see my family for Thanksgiving and Christmas but I can't spend my summers laying on the beach and going out with my old high school friends like I'm used to.  I'm glad I've finally grown up enough to see what a beautiful and vibrant city I'm from, but it would have been nice to appreciate it growing up.  

Don't be a 'Twitter Whore'

I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in September when I was involved in UGA's Connect Conference.  In my first few days using it, I got a crash course in this new phenomenon.  Since October, I've stayed on Twitter mainly to follow professors and professionals in the PR world, especially those who are experts in social media.   

There are definitely different types of people on Twitter - those who use it just for personal use, those who use it to keep up with industry trends, and companies using it for business.  Before I get any further into this discussion, I have to post this video a friend pointed out to me a few days ago.  

Personally, I think this video is an example of everything that is wrong with Twitter.  It should be used constructively as a social media tool, not as a way to stalk people (there's enough of that on Facebook and Myspace).

In researching ways for businesses to use Twitter, I came across a great blog post offering 50 ideas on using Twitter.  Some of the main points were:

• use Twitter Search to listen for your name and your competitor's names
• talk to people about their interests
• share links to things in your community
• have more than one twitterer at the company
• ask questions
• follow interesting people
• share the human side of your company
• comment on others' tweets, retweet what others say to build community
• Twitter at events can help people build an instant "backchannel" 

It seems that more and more companies are getting on Twitter to set themselves apart from competitors.  I wonder if soon Twitter will be something businesses have to do simply to keep up with the times rather than to be unique.  

Every Dawg Has His Days

New Year's Day is always a big milestone and means a lot of things to different people - a new diet, a new workout plan, quitting smoking, etc.  However, this New Year's Day was a different milestone for me - it was the day of my last Georgia football game as a student.  Sure, I’ll probably make it back to a game or two every year but I’ll never get to devote as much of my life as I do now to Georgia football.

I guess I should give a little history here… I went to a small high school that was too focused on academics to have sports teams.  Students could participate in teams at their district schools (I did this for track), but the main thing we missed out on was school spirit. After seeing my friends at all the big high schools get so excited over rivalries and having a team to cheer for, I knew I wanted to go to college somewhere that could make up for what I had missed in high school.

So three and a half years ago, I went to not only my first UGA football game, but my first football game ever.  I didn’t have the slightest clue what a first down was, and I had certainly never seen anything like the excitement in Athens on game day.  My roommate and I headed out aimlessly that Saturday morning, dressed in UGA tank tops and jeans… only to run straight back to our dorms to change after seeing how dressed up everyone was!  I was so confused by the dresses, heels, and pearls around me and never thought I could get used dressing up like these crazy Southern girls every week.  Oh, how things have changed.

Now I know more about college football and what’s going on in the SEC than my dad and brother.  Who would have thought I, who back then didn’t know how many points a touchdown was worth, would one day be able to talk football with the boys?  Football sucked me in, and I’m officially addicted - not only to the sport itself, but to the overall culture of Georgia football and what it means to have school spirit.  I own more red and black dresses than I ever thought imaginable.   I could do all of the Georgia cheers and sing the fight song in my sleep.  I wake up on game days earlier and more excited than I did on Christmas morning when I was a kid.   Now I truly understand what people mean when they say football is a religion in the South.

Athens is a wonderful city and will always hold a special place in my heart for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is Georgia football.  Win or lose, rain or shine, nothing makes me happier than being in Sanford Stadium cheering for my team. GO DAWGS!!!

Hello, 2009.

I realize that I've been kind of MIA the last few days, after just talking about how important it is to update your blog frequently, but I just got back from an amazing few days in Miami for New Year's Eve and Orlando for the Capital One Bowl (Go Dawgs!).  That being said, I'm finally back home with time to reflect on last year and look ahead to 2009.  

When we were out celebrating New Year's Eve this year, I couldn't help but think back to my senior year of high school when we were ringing in 2005.  Ever since I could remember, we had defined ourselves as "The Class of '05" - a year that seemed to far away, until that night when 2005 became a reality.  This year I had a similar feeling, as I've been looking forward to (and sometimes dreading) 2009 as the year I would graduate college since the moment I graduated high school.  Looking around at all of my friends, I couldn't believe we'd all made it to this point (and that we're all graduating on time!).  I've known some of these people since elementary school, and it's crazy to think that in 5 months we'll be going our separate ways and starting our "real" jobs and lives.  

2009 is going to bring a lot of transitions: graduating college, finding a job, moving out of the townhouse I've lived in for the past 3 years and into an apartment in New York, and the list goes on... Only this graduation, unlike high school, is a lot less certain.  3 and a half years ago, I knew I was moving to Athens.  I knew I would live in the dorms with my random roommate that UGA assigned to me.  I knew what my major would be, and what classes I would be taking. 

Right now, looking ahead, I have a lot of unknowns.  Aside from living in New York, I have no idea what I'll be doing a year from now.  And I couldn't be more excited to see where the year will take me.  Bring it on, 2009.